SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks might face insurmountable obstacles on their slender path to the playoffs.
Their solely hope of reaching the postseason is to win the NFC West, and so they’re a recreation behind the Los Angeles Rams after Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Which means the Seahawks (8-7) should win their remaining two video games and the Rams should lose to slumping Arizona on Saturday for Seattle to sneak into the postseason.
Seattle was aggressive in opposition to Minnesota, which shares one of the best file within the NFC with Detroit. Geno Smith’s 4-yard landing move to AJ Barner gave the Seahawks the lead within the fourth quarter, however the Vikings took benefit of a facemask penalty in opposition to Byron Murphy II on their subsequent possession, and Sam Darnold discovered Justin Jefferson for a go-ahead 39-yard landing.
A late interception by Smith sealed the loss and put the Seahawks in a troublesome spot heading into the ultimate two weeks of the season.
“We just got to handle our part, which is win out,” linebacker Ernest Jones IV mentioned. “Then, let the chips fall where they fall. Hopefully, we catch a little luck and we can get in there. But it’s tough in there.”
What’s working
Jaxon Smith-Njigba continued to shine, ending with eight receptions for 95 yards and a landing on Sunday. He has 1,089 yards this season, changing into the tenth participant in franchise historical past to achieve 1,000 yards receiving and the primary since DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett each did so in 2020. Smith-Njigba has led the Seahawks in receiving yards in every of the previous eight video games.
“He’s a great player,” Smith mentioned. “Been having a tremendous season. Those things are to be expected of him. I think he’s only going to continue to get better. He’s a fighter. Got a lot of heart. That’s something that goes a long way.”
What wants assist
The operating recreation was a non-factor but once more. The Seahawks gained 59 yards on 15 carries for a mean of three.9 yards. Kenneth Walker III had eight rushes for 31 yards, together with an 11-yard run that was Seattle’s longest of the day.
The Seahawks rank thirtieth within the NFL in speeding yards, and among the blame will inevitably fall on offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.
Refill
Though he was intercepted twice, Smith had one in all his higher video games of the season. He accomplished 72% of his passes (31 of 43) for 314 yards and three touchdowns for a passer ranking of 96.5. Smith exceeded 300 yards passing for the fifth time this season and threw for 3 or extra TDs for the second time.
“Geno is probably our top competitor on our football team,” coach Mike Macdonald mentioned. “We’re not sitting here with life at the end of December unless Geno has done the things he’s done. He’s a fighter, man. I thought he played a good game.”
Inventory down
Tre Brown had a foul sequence within the second quarter. A sack by Derick Corridor on third-and-8 to seemingly pressure the Vikings to strive a discipline aim was negated by an offside penalty in opposition to Brown.
On the subsequent play, Jefferson acquired previous Brown for a 14-yard landing catch that put the Vikings forward 14-7. Brown, who began instead of Riq Woolen, hadn’t performed a defensive snap since Seattle’s Week 6 loss to San Francisco, and he struggled to comprise Jefferson, who completed with 10 catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns.
Accidents
Walker left the sport within the fourth quarter with an ankle damage. Macdonald had no updates about Walker on Monday.
Key numbers
75 — The Seahawks threw the ball on 75% of their offensive snaps (45 of 60). Certainly one of their 15 runs was a 2-yard sneak by Julian Love on a pretend punt within the fourth quarter, and one other was an 8-yard scramble by Smith.
Zach Charbonnet, who ran for 134 yards two weeks in the past in opposition to Arizona, had one carry for minus-1 yard.
Up subsequent
The Seahawks play at Chicago on Thursday night time. The Bears have misplaced 9 straight.